“What I’d tell my former self is: Don’t give up,” says Zach, who lost both of his legs in a workplace accident in 2019. Zach underwent osseointegration with WashU Medicine Physicians at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, a groundbreaking surgery to implant prosthesis directly into a patient’s bone.

Last year, St. Louis mom Sara Schwartz discovered she was pregnant with not one but two babies –– identical twin girls. Schwartz, who was already a mother of three (to children ages 12, 11 and 9) felt excited about her “bonus babies” on the way, despite it being a high-risk pregnancy.